Sunday, December 21, 2008

Insurer finally Pays on RV warranty

Shirley Schenmeyer and her husband, Bob, are motor home enthusiasts who have spent considerable time and money on a pair of beautiful recreational vehicles, which they use to tool around the country and attend motor home rallies.

Over the summer, a fancy device broke on their larger motor home, a 40-foot battleship called a Holiday Rambler Imperial. The device is called an Aqua Hot, and it's part furnace, part water heater. It heats their cooking and wash water on the way to their destination, and a series of tubes that run from the heater and beneath the RV's floors acts as a source of radiant heat for the living space.

Their RV is huge and elaborate, the parts on the RV tend to be expensive. A new Aqua Hot costs about $7,500 to $10,000. The motor home itself was worth more than $300,000 when they purchased it new in 2003. Because they had so much invested, the couple bought an extended warranty on the vehicle from a company called American Guardian Insurance. They paid $6,000 for the warranty coverage.

When the device broke over the summer, the Schenmeyers drove their vehicle to Elkhart, Ind., to have it repaired. The repair cost about $10,000 and they received a refurbished Aqua Hot. Bob Schenmeyer was under the impression that American Guardian had agreed to reimburse them for about $7,500, which he thought was fair based on the warranty policy.

But the check they finally received from American Guardian was only for $2,400.Full Story...--- The RV Handbook: Essential How-to Guide for the RV OwnerThis new edition of The RV Handbook is for all types of RV enthusiasts - from a first-time buyer or renter to the most seasoned RV traveler. Packed with valuable information, checklists, photos, and charts, the guide tells you how to: buy an RV; avoid the single most common mistake novice RVers make; select a towing vehicle; avoid RV repair scams; benefit from technical trends in RV manufacturing; correct the bad towing habit that plagues even experienced RVers; and prevent explosive propane situations. With hundreds of proven RV tips, tricks, and techniques, this expanded handbook tells how to buy, maintain, and optimize RVs, saving both money and time.